Cam actuated side jaw wrench



Oct. 28, 1952 G. E. GARNb 2,615,358

CAM ACTUATED SIDE JAW WRENCH Filed July 18, 1950 Z FIG. 3

' INVENTOR GEORGE E GARNO wWWW W 'Arr'rs Patented Oct. 28, 1952 I OFFICE CAM ACTUATED SIDE JAW WRENCH George E. Garno, Grafton center, N. H.

ApplicationJuly '18, 1950, Serial No. 174,444

This invention relates to wrenches andhas for an object to provide a wrench of the open or spanner type butwhich is quickly adjustable to engage nuts or other objects of somewhat dinerent external dimensions, but when soengaged automatically closes thereon with a vise-like grip, the grip being maintained while the wrench engages the nut or other article. This avoids the difficulty often experienced with wrenches of the open-end type when the, space between the jaws is too small to permit engagement with a slightly oversized nut, or too large to properly engage with an undersized nut, the latter resulting in rounding the corners of the nut when used thereon.

It is also possible with a wrench of the present invention to maintain the head of the wrench sufficiently small to engage nuts in confined spaces which is one of the advantages of wrenches of the open or spanner type. At the same time the wrench of, the present invention provides a sufficient range of adjustment to take .nuts of two adjacent normal sizes. This increases the range of usefulness of a single wrench and by employing a .double end wrench of the type of this invention, the wrench capacity is increased to four nut sizes in contrast to the two sizes of nuts ordinarily engageable with double-ended type wrenches.

For a complete understanding of this invention, reference may be hadto the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a single .ended wrench embodying the invention.

Figures 2 and 3 are sectional views on 1ines'2-.2 and 3-3, respectively, of Figure 1. 1 Figure 4 is a view partly in side elevation and partly broken away and in section of-a double ended wrench embodying the invention. 7 Referring first to Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, the wrench as shown comprises ahandle I provided with a central bore 2. One end of this handle has formed integral therewith "or fixed thereto a jaw member 3. Inwardly of the jaw member the I handle is provided with a lateral slot, as at 4, for slidably receiving the shank portion 5 of a movable jaw member 6 which is so disposed that as it is moved through the slot 4 its jaw portion approaches or recedes from the fixed jaw member 3. The handle is also provided with a longitudinal slot I and the movable jaw member 6 is provided with a slot 8 shown as wider than the slot 1 and inclined with respect to the direction of the slot I. This inclination is of a small angle, say, about A pin I0 extends through the handle slot 1 and the jaw member slot 8 and ex- I extent.

tends outwardly of the handle to a slight extent as shown best in Figure 2 where it may be reached on one side or the other by a finger or thumb of the operator. When the pin is toward the outer end of the slot I of the handle, a shoe Il carried.v

thereby riding in the inclined slot 8 of the movable jaw member is in such position that thejaw' 6 is closed toward the fixed jaw 3 to its maximum By moving (the pin I0 away from the jaw members 3 and 8, the shoe II, riding in the inclined jaw member slot 8, causes the movable jaw member 6 to be moved away from the fixed jaw member 3, thus opening the jaws so that they may be engaged about an article such'as a nut and then be closed .thereagainst.

;Means for closing the jaw members against the article comprises a light spring I2 housed within the bore 2 of the handle and reacting at one end, against a rod I4 slidable in the socket 2 and at its other end against a threaded plug I8 seated in a threaded recess in the rear end of the handle I. reduced diameter outer, extremity I5 which normally engages in a socket I6 in or through the pin I0. This engagement of the portion I5 within the pin I0 holds the pin assembled within the slots 1 and 8 but by moving the rod I4 inwardly from the head end of the wrench, the portion at I5 may be disengaged from the pin l0, allowing this pin to be pulled laterally out of position and freeing the movable jaw member 6 so that it may be removed from the wrench. This may be tween the wrench jaws tending to open them will not be effective to'slidev the pin i8 inwardly from the head end of the wrench, thus opening the wrench, but it may be opened readily by the user of the wrench by engaging a finger with the pin I0 and retracting it against the action of the spring I-2.

By employing a slope of substantially 15, which is less than the sticking angle, for the engagement between the pin or its. shoe II and the movable jaw membenthere is afforded a sufficient range of opening and closing motion of the movable jaw member without an undue length of The rod I4 is provided with a the slots to take slightly more than two adjacent sizes of nut. For example, such a wrench may have a capacity of, say and nuts, being openable'to a 64th of an inch beyond the A" to take a slightly oversized nut and closable to a 64th" short of A," to grip-a slightly undersized /3 nut.

It will also be noted that the engagement of the jaws .on the workis automatically effected by the action of thespring I2 so that there is no looseness of such engagement when the wrench is being used. This avoids any relative rocking between the wrench and the nut which is often found to occur whereopen type wrenches are employed and which results in rounding the edges of the nut. If this rounding becomes exverse socket therein, a rod slidably guided within said handle for motion lengthwise of said handle and having an end portion normally engaging in said pin socket and holding said pin 5 assembled in said slot, and a spring engaging said rod and yieldingly pressing said rod and said pin toward one end of said slots in which cessive the wrench may fail tohold the nut sei curely.

In Figure 4 a modification is shown in which adouble end wrench is shown. In this construction the handle la is provided'with a fixed -J'aw portion 3a at each end. Eachend'portion of the handle is also provided with a transverse slot for the reception of the shank 5 of a movable jaw'inember 6. Each movable jaw member is provided with the inclined slot 8 and at each end of the wrench the handle is provided with a longitudinal slot 7. A pin l0 extending through the slots is employed at each end of the wrench, each pin having its shoe II which engages the sides of the inclined slot 8. Each pin I0 is also provided with a socket [6 for receiving the reduced diameter portion l5 of a slidable rod 14. The spring for engaging these rods, herein shown as the spring I8, is positionedbetween the adjacent inner ends of the two rods M. A movable jaw member 6 may be disassembled by moving the corresponding rod l4 out of engagement in the socket l6 of its actuating pin ID, the corresponding rod I4 being then withdrawn, after the removal'of the movablejaw member 6, through the head end ofthe wrench.

From the foregoing description of certain embodiments of this invention, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing'from its spirit or scope.

I claim: 1

1. A wrenchcomprising a handle, a pair of jaw members, one of said jaw members being fixed to said handle, means slidably supporting the other of said jaw members for motion transverse to saidhandle for motion toward and from said one member, said handle having a slot longitudinally thereof, said other jaw member having a slot inclined lengthwise of said handle, a pin slidably guided in said handle slot, a shoe supported on said pin and slidably guided in said jaw member slot, an means yieldingly pressing said pin toward one end, of said handle slot in a jaw members, one of saidjaw members being position said slidable jaw member is closest to said fixed jaw member.

3. A wrench comprising a handle having a longitudinal bore, a jaw member fixedly carried at each end of said handle, a jaw member transversely slidably carried by said handle at each end and cooperating with the corresponding fixed jaw member to hold a work piece therebetween, said handle having a longitudinal slot adjacent to each end, each of said slidable jaw members having a slot inclined to said handle slots, a pin riding in each of said handle slots and in the corresponding slidable jaw member slot and providing for lateral motion of the corresponding slidable jaw member by longitudinal motion of the pin in the corresponding slots, the direction of inclination of said jaw member slots being such that motion of the corresponding pin toward the adjacent end of said handle moves said slidable jaw member toward the corresponding fixed jaw member, each of said pins having a transverse socket, a pairof rods slidably mounted within the bore of said handle and each having an end portion normally engageable in one of said pinsockets, and a spring within said bore and reacting against the inner ends .of said rods.

' GEORGE E. GARNO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date Germany May 27,1922 

